The Smirk He Left Behind
by The Cliffhanger Girl
Summary: He had a beautiful wife, an adorable baby girl, and was living a life that seemed so surreal. Eli got what he always wanted, to live under the roof of the ones he loved. But, who would've known that it would all be taken away within a blink of an eye?


Hey guys! I know, this is might be the most...depressing one-shot that I've ever written and if you're not in the mood to be put in this kind of state then please do not read further. Although, I'd appreciate if you did. So, the reason for my little depression slump in this piece of writing, recently my close grandma passed away who was very much one of the people who would undeniably make me smile...but, even though she is gone I know she is still here with me. I know you guys could care less and all you want to do is read, so please enjoy this one-shot I'd like to call "The Smirk He Left Behind"...

**A Special Thanks To My Beta Reader**-SomeoneNamedLiz

A Dedication to My Grandma Elizabeth, R.I.P. 3

I've had this sitting in my document folder for nearly two weeks or so, not being able to finish it but, I finally wanted to publish it so, here goes nothing...

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><p><em><strong>THE SMIRK HE LEFT BEHIND<strong>_

_**Teardrops slowly fall from my eyes as I look to the sky, and I question how come life keeps passing me right on by. I just wonder why I can't escape, is this my fate? To always be unhappy and how much longer must I wait...**_

**CLARE'S PERSPECTIVE**

_**Death.**_

_One word, with a definition that is beyond anybody's knowledge. _

_Not Einstein, nor a man compared to say, Benjamin Franklin's knowledge and talent could possibly even think about what the true meaning of "death" is. It is, exactly what it is and it means...exactly what you think it means. _

_Death, it could be a very sweet release for some and for some, it could be a fatal stop of a heart that was not ready for__** it. **_

_As I write this down, tears stream down my irritated cheeks, falling down on this paper and smudging the words almost making it unreadable. But, I can't help but have my heart stop as I re-tell you the story of my husband, a young teenager at heart but a strong looking, middle aged man on the outside who had his life quickly taken from him. _

"Mommy! Mommy! What are you doing?" My daughter screamed innocently, tugging at my jeans as I growled, looking down at her. She backed away when I hissed, looking up from my writing, "Can't you tell that I'm busy?"

I watched as her tiny chin trembled, her lips quivering and a single tear trailing down her cheeks as I saw Drew come up from behind her and say, "Sorry Clare, she snuck up here by accident...go on honey, Bianca's downstairs waiting to take you to the park."

My head fell to my desk in the attic as Drew touched my arm and I flinched, "Clare...you need sleep...you need to rest and stop with this writing, it's tearing you and your daughter apart."

"Do you think that Eli had time to sleep, huh? Do you think that he had enough time to sleep before he died? Do you think that-," Drew brought me into a tight embrace as I whimpered in his arms, my whole world collapsing before me as I closed my eyes, my mind replaying that whole night all over again...

***FLASHBACK***

_CLARE'S PERSPECTIVE_

_"Yeah Clare, I'll be back by eleven, I promise. Yes," he giggled in between, "I promise that we're going to try to get you pregnant again. Katie needs a little sister or brother now doesn't she?" _

_I smiled, my cheeks growing red knowing that Eli is finally admitting that another child in the family will only make us stronger. _

_"Thank you Eli, I can't wait to see you..." I mumbled while taking a bite out of my apple and laughing, watching my three year old daughter play with her dolls and rip the head off of the ken doll._

_My eyes bulged as I saw her bring it to her mouth as I dropped the phone and said, "Oh honey no, you can't eat that." _

_"But he deserves it mommy he put Barbie in hot water," she said with a frown on her face as I lifted her chin up and said, "Come on, I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose." _

_Her little head bobbed up and down as she said, "Daddy said that the Ken doll reminds him of Jake Martin and he-daddy told me that Jake was a real pain in his behind when he was littler." _

_I smiled and said, "Stop listening to your father sweetheart." _

_"B-but he's right, he said that that if he didn't win over you heart then you would've ended up with him and then I wouldn't have been dropped off by the stork," she added, a reassuring smile spreading across her face, making her curls bounce up and down slowly. _

_"Daddy is always right huh?" I asked as she nodded again and said, "That's what he tells me..." _

_I rolled my eyes playfully, knowing that my daughter has been spending too much time around Eli. _

_After my daughter resumed her doll playing, I sighed, noticing I had left my cell phone on the floor and just when I picked it up, bringing it to my ear, I repeated Eli's name, waiting for him to answer me. _

_"C-Clare," I heard him cough out and my heart raced, "E-Eli what's wrong? Eli? Where are you?" _

_He coughed, his voice remaining silent and the other line just filled with his heavy, unsteady breaths as I screamed, "Eli! Where are you? What's going on?" _

_Katie's head snapped up and she slowly stood up, running to the window and her eyes bulging as she pointed outside while saying, "Mommy! Look, there's daddy! Look!" _

_My jaw dropped, my phone falling from my fingertips as I covered my daughter's eyes, staring at the scene before me. I watched as Morty was smashed against a telephone pole, smoke coming from the hood and no sign of Eli..._

_"H-honey, go up to your room and don't come out until I come get you," I ordered as Katie hugged her doll tightly and ran up the steps, obeying me. _

_I opened the front door to my house, running to the smoking vehicle while frantically screaming out Eli's name, seeing him, lying down across the front seat, blood dripping down the side of his face. _

_My lips trembled as people started surrounding the car, just staring and whispering as I screeched, "Aren't you going to do something? Why are you all just standing around? We have to do something!" _

_As I struggled to open the door, it was unfortunately jammed and I could not open it alone. I heard sirens go off, signaling 'help' was close. Tears gushed down my face as I was pried off of the car by a stranger._

_"Come on, help is coming, stop it, it's going to be alright," the unfamiliar voice said, making my heart race unsteadily. _

_Sooner or later, my lips were trembling with fear as the paramedics dragged Eli's body out of his favorite car and I nearly lost it, a huge gaping hole forming in the middle of my now, black heart. _

_"E-Eli, honey I'm here, can you hear me?" I whimpered loudly, making heads turn and I screamed, "Let me go! I need to-, I have to!" _

_I turned around, seeing the person that was holding me back had been my brother, Drew, the whole time. _

_He quickly spun me around, not wanting me to see the scene unravel before me because my eyes had been stained with too many tears and petrified with too many memories tonight. _

_"It's alright Clare, he'll be okay," I heard Drew say in my ear, his breath hitting my curls. _

_I gulped and shook my head, pushing him away from me as I said, "Just take care of Katie...I need to see him, I need him."_

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><p><em>After a half hour of pacing outside of the emergency room, watching his bp go up and down, I watched as the doctors surrounded Eli and his lifeless body was soon starting to drift away from me.<em>

_"We need a pulse people!" I heard the head doctor repeat for the thousandth time as I covered my hand with my mouth, my knees buckling as they now became desperate, only using regular mouth to mouth resuscitation to get him going again._

_"Come on Eli, Come on," I whispered pleadingly, tears streaming down my face as I felt my heart drop into my stomach when I heard a straight, faint beeping noise. _

_"N-no," my voice was shaky, my legs, I could not feel them anymore. _

_My eyes frantically glanced around, in search of his heart monitor and just when I saw the straight line across the screen, I screamed. _

**_I screamed...and I cried...and I screamed. _**

_"Oh Clare," I heard someone say as I shook my head, avoiding their eye contact. I felt a body wrap their arms around me. The second I felt the person embracing me, I knew it was Drew._

_"H-he can't be gone, he can't be! He can't!" I screamed loudly, making heads turn as my heart raced visiously, making me feel as if I was going to have a heart attack. _

_"L-let go of me, I need to see him-, I need to feel him! I need to talk to him!Get off!" My hands formed into fists of fury as I banged on Drew's chest, praying that he'd just let me go. _

_"It's alright Clare, shh, shh," he whispered in my ear, his warm breath taking over my shaking frame as I continued to cry, not being able to control it. _

_I clenched my eyes tightly together, too afraid to see the doctors coming out of Eli's room with their heads down, shaking their heads slowly in disbelief. _

_"O-oh god," I whimpered, only making Drew rake his fingers through my hair as I gripped onto him, my nails clawing at his back in fear._

_When Drew finally loosened his grip on me, I used all the force I had inside of me to push him away, causing him to stumble into a picture frame on the wall, glass shatering all over the floor._

_The second I ran into Eli's room, the nurses and doctors we're taking him off the bed as I shook my head and ordered shakily, "Don't touch him." _

_"But ma'am we have to-," Drew cut them off and ordered, "Get out." _

_As the people surrounding him left, I glanced down at the resemblance of a ghost, a man that I was always able to wrap my arms around and get a comforting hug in return._

_Now...he was nothing but a lost soul. _

_I slowly traced my hand over his forehead, pushing back his jet black hair, that was slightly soaked in blood from his head and I placed a gently kiss on his temple._

_"I love you Eli," I whispered in his ear, interlocking our hands, praying for a response. _

_Drew's hand touched my back as I flinched, saying, "H-he's not gone...he can't be gone...he just, I just heard his voice a half hour ago Drew...he was alive, he was speaking, he was laughing!" _

_"I know Clare," he whispered and then mummbled, "I know." _

_I gripped onto his hand tighter, sitting him up on the hospital bed as Drew helped me. I wrapped my arms around his slender waist, his blood dripping onto my shirt as I slowly brought my lips to his earlobe, kissing it tenderly and whispering,"C-come back to me." _

_"Please." _

_His arms didn't return the hug like it usually did, they laid limp on my sides and his head began to grow heavy in the crook of my shoulder. _

_"He's gone Clare," Drew whispered and I shook my head, tears streaming down my face as I glanced down at his face, noticing...that a familiar smirk was plastered on it. _

_"He still has the smirk," I whispered, making me laugh slightly but then immediately growing upset because I could never again see it 'in action'. _

_"He might be gone Clare...but, he'll always be right here," he pointed to my heart and I wrapped my arms around him, tighteneing the grip once again, never wanting to let go..._

***END FLASHBACK***

Tears continued to stream down my face, clashing with Drew's arms as I remembered how that night, I had to be pried off of Eli's body by two security men and Drew at the same time.

"I just miss him so much," I whispered through frantic chest heavings.

"I know you do Clare, I know you do, but he's always with you and you know that," he told me firmly, almost making me want to believe that that bullshit was true.

"It's just like...it's like I used to have a big part of him inside my heart and now...it's just a big gaping hole, sucking in all the air," I whimpered.

Drew laughed, pulling back from our hug and wiping the tears off my cheeks with the pad of his thumb as he said, "Clare Diane Goldsworthy, you do not have a big gaping hole in your heart. If anything, that heart is exploding with Eli written all over it."

"Really?" I asked, my frown turning into a slight smile.

He placed his hand beneath my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes as he said, "Don't you ever think that Eli would ever leave this world without leaving a little some of himself behind."

I smirked unintentionally and Drew pointed out, "See! There it is!"

"What?" I asked and he smiled, "The smirk...he left the smirk with you."

My trembling fingers traced over the smirk on my face, and at that moment, I swear I could feel Eli's soft fingers instead of mine, touching the outline of my lips...

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><p><strong>Reviews?<strong>

Love you guys,

Cliffhanger Girl

3


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